I am an evil giraffe. But I'm trying, Nick. I'm trying REAL HARD to be the wizard.

Don’t let the snide references to Reaganomics and Walmart fool you: this is straight up, 100% freeze-the-market-because-I-fear-change reactionary thinking. The problem? Salon feels that it’s too easy to make an independent movie, these days: and that all those people who work on independent films aren’t getting enough money (despite the fact that said people keep doing it, which at least suggests that maybe they’re still getting something out of participating). The solution? (more…)

…not that I can, given that I’m almost 43*. But Sonny Bunch gives it a go.

Moe Lane

PS: If I answer the question anyway? I suspect that we’re going to have more of a situation where movie clips become cult. For example: The Hitler Bunker clip, or the Anchorman Trident scene. People ‘know’ those even if they’ve never seen the films in question.

*Damned if I know what happened, either. Fortunately, I generally like being the age that I actually am.

Why it's a dystopia: The country has a federal police service AND has turned Manhattan into a maximum security prison. Worse, the Soviet Union's still around.

Why it's significant: Snake Plissken is an iconic character; plus, the shock visuals that resulted from juxtiposing familiar American icons and an aura of decay had an impact on subsequent dystopian cinema. Which is a slightly pretentious way of saying 'people liked the film.'

What happened? Well, obviously, we didn't create a federal police agency of this sort, and we didn't make Manhattan into a maximum security prison. But that's not why I'm noting this: after all, Carpenter's somewhat jaundiced worldview about contemporary American societal trends can be seen more pointedly in his sequel Escape from L.A.* No, the reason I'm pointing this one out is because we're all getting older, which means that the population is increasingly one that has no real memory of what it was like to have the Soviet Union looming over us. The casual assumption that the USSR would be around and kicking in the next generation was utterly unremarkable at the time - which, given what we know about the nature of Marxists, implies some pretty dark deeds, in... deed.

Indeed, this is one of the more hopeful assumptions. Far too much science fiction of the time period assumed that the Soviets were going to end up kicking our butts.

Moe Lane

*A movie which is notable partially for that, but mostly for being an egregious piece of sh*t whenever Bruce Campbell wasn't on the screen.

Why it's a dystopia: The country has a federal police service AND has turned Manhattan into a maximum security prison. Worse, the Soviet Union's still around.

Why it's significant: Snake Plissken is an iconic character; plus, the shock visuals that resulted from juxtiposing familiar American icons and an aura of decay had an impact on subsequent dystopian cinema. Which is a slightly pretentious way of saying 'people liked the film.'

What happened? Well, obviously, we didn't create a federal police agency of this sort, and we didn't make Manhattan into a maximum security prison. But that's not why I'm noting this: after all, Carpenter's somewhat jaundiced worldview about contemporary American societal trends can be seen more pointedly in his sequel Escape from L.A.* No, the reason I'm pointing this one out is because we're all getting older, which means that the population is increasingly one that has no real memory of what it was like to have the Soviet Union looming over us. The casual assumption that the USSR would be around and kicking in the next generation was utterly unremarkable at the time - which, given what we know about the nature of Marxists, implies some pretty dark deeds, in... deed.

Indeed, this is one of the more hopeful assumptions. Far too much science fiction of the time period assumed that the Soviets were going to end up kicking our butts.

Moe Lane

*A movie which is notable partially for that, but mostly for being an egregious piece of sh*t whenever Bruce Campbell wasn't on the screen.

This would be a comment on the movie, not the book (I haven't read the book). Watch this clip: notice what's missing?
Yup. People who aren't white. A somewhat common theme in 1970s and 1980s-style post-apocalyptic film, alas: apparently, Caucasians are apparently particularly prone to survive the End Times. Either that, or Hollywood had a bad habit of not hiring minorities for crowd scenes, let alone supporting roles.
The application of irony in this is left as an exercise for the interested reader.
Moe Lane
PS: Yes, I know: it hasn't happened yet, so we don't know that it won't turn out this way. Still, I think that we've safely avoided a world where the young are running it (and apparently, literally into the ground)...

This would be a comment on the movie, not the book (I haven't read the book). Watch this clip: notice what's missing?
Yup. People who aren't white. A somewhat common theme in 1970s and 1980s-style post-apocalyptic film, alas: apparently, Caucasians are apparently particularly prone to survive the End Times. Either that, or Hollywood had a bad habit of not hiring minorities for crowd scenes, let alone supporting roles.
The application of irony in this is left as an exercise for the interested reader.
Moe Lane
PS: Yes, I know: it hasn't happened yet, so we don't know that it won't turn out this way. Still, I think that we've safely avoided a world where the young are running it (and apparently, literally into the ground)...

This is not quite a 'real' CfD, but it is kind of interesting:
If only to remind folks that doom-mongering has been going on for quite a while. I also have some critical things to say about the short alternate history story "Dispatches from the Revolution" - which is a story that draws heavily on RFK as a change point - but I haven't decided which website to put it on yet.

This is not quite a 'real' CfD, but it is kind of interesting:
If only to remind folks that doom-mongering has been going on for quite a while. I also have some critical things to say about the short alternate history story "Dispatches from the Revolution" - which is a story that draws heavily on RFK as a change point - but I haven't decided which website to put it on yet.